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History Courtesy of the Internet

Appreciating the educational opportunity that the internet is

I’ve said this before, but maybe it’s my age or simply growing up in a time before computers, but the web is an awesomely great place to look up history!

As a kid growing up in Dover, Ohio, in the 1960s and 1970s, I’d go to the Dover Public Library and spend hours just looking at books (the more pics, the better).

Dover has a population of about 12,000 people and only one library. Sadly, for a tech-geek kid like me there were very few books about radio and TV that were “current” since the “audience” for that type of book was relatively small (probably just me!). The limits of the library back then and lack of internet meant I only could see what was available TO me and at that particular location.

I wonder how the education of kids today differs simply due to computers and the web? Will the know more? Will they learn more quickly? Will “misinformation” play a more critical role to what they know and understand (since the internet also has its fair share of “bad info”)?

But to get back onto the path, in this week’s Off The Beaten Path, here are some interesting historical links.

History, “In Living Color”
When colorizing photos and films returned as a fad a few decades ago, the results were less than spectacular. To me, they appeared cheesy and fake. Over time (and thanks to modern digital photography technology), however, the process has become amazingly real. Here is a collection of old photos which have been colorized. To look at these photos in color is more like “being there” as opposed to just looking at some old pics.

Real D-Day Footage From Omaha Beach
The current military of today still has “combat cameramen.” Here’s actual D-Day film footage of the landing at Omaha Beach.

Inside The Titanic
Here’s an incredible 1 1/2-hour film on what it was like inside the Titanic and what the ship and people went through. No “Jack & Rose” on this version, but very informative and considered to be historically accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqSS2v0NvR4

History of the World
From the good people of the BBC, comes a history of the world. This link takes you to their home page for the history, but this page has some excellent links to really cool things inside the British Museum as well (look for “Explore the British Museum’s 100 Objects”).

U.S. Government
With all the current talk about the happenings in the U.S., here’s a little publicized link which is an “Everything you ever wanted to know about the U.S. government” website. From the American flag to the history of the United States, you can find it all here.

And finally …
Here’s an interesting video called “What did you regret most?” The video is a motivational video … and it asks some poignant questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWCR3KDqXUY

If you stumble across a good or unusual web site that might be of interest, please don’t hesitate to send me the link and any info you might have about it. My email address is [email protected].

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